Evaluation of Helical Pipe Geometry on Hydraulic Flocculation Efficiency for Turbid Water Treatment

Abstract

The geometric configuration of helical tubes was assessed in relation to the hydraulic flocculation efficiency in the treatment of highly turbid water. The effect of evaluating different tube geometries (diameters of 0.019–0.025m), loop diameters (0.45–1 m) and flow rates (7.5–25·10⁻⁶ m³/s) on head loss, camp number (Gt), and residence time was evaluated. The highest turbidity removal efficiency of 85.56% was achieved with the optimized configuration of a 0.019 m tube diameter with a 0.45 m loop. The performance was less if flow rates were higher, the tubes or loops were larger and the flow rates were higher due to inadequate turbulence and less time for particle interaction. Results validate that compact helical configurations aid in low turbulence condition improvement of mixing and particle collision. The helical flow devices were proven to be easy and low cost alternatives to these systems. Future work should focus on scaling and the optimizing the coagulant. The study illustrated that helical flow devices are easy and inexpensive alternatives to decentralized systems. Future work should focus on scaling and coagulant optimization.